For the first call, 36 projects were reviewed by an international jury. Only 5 projects rated A + by the jury were selected, among which the project CenTuri (Turing Centre for Living Systems) directed by Thomas Lecuit (Tissue Architecture and Plasticity team) and carried by Aix-Marseille Université (AMU), in partnership with CNRS and INSERM.

The project CenTuri, aims at developing an integrated interdisciplinary community, to decipher the complexity of biological systems through the understanding of how biological function emerges from the organization and dynamics of living systems.

This project brings together 48 research groups in the Luminy Campus of AMU, in Biology, Physics, Computer Sciences and Mathematics, as well as many technological platforms. It will recruit more than 120 people (Researchers, Engineers, PhD students, Post-Docs) over 10 years with an estimated budget of € 20 million co-funded by the Plan d’investissement d’Avenir and Fondation A*MIDEX. The project will support the creation of a Graduate School including Masters and PhD in Biology, Physics and Bioinformatics with interdisciplinary links (Physics, Biology, Maths / Info-biology).

The research and training programs implemented under the project CenTuri will attract new talents and will give the Luminy campus international visibility in the area of ​​interdisciplinary studies of biological systems.